Images of Israeli troops setting up pipes and pumps to flood the Hamas tunnel network have emerged online.
Israel is believed to have completed the installation of at least five pumps that could allegedly move thousands of cubic metres of seawater per hour, which will be used to flush out Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip.
New images show Israeli soldiers on a beach allegedly around one mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp in the north of Gaza.
Another video posted on Instagram shows soldiers underground working on pipes.
Other videos shared by Israeli media also appears to show Israel Defence Force (IDF) troops working on the pipes underground.
At this stage it is unclear when Israel would put the pumps into action, given that there are still Israeli hostages believed to be kept in the vast tunnel network.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeared to confirm that Israel aims to flood the tunnels.
He said: “We are seeing a lot of underground infrastructure in Gaza, we knew there would be a lot. Part of the goal is to destroy this infrastructure.
“We have various ways [to deal with the tunnels], I won’t talk about specifics, but they include explosives to destroy, and other means to prevent Hamas operatives from using the tunnels to harm our soldiers.
“Therefore, any means which give us an advantage over the enemy that [uses the tunnels], deprives it of this asset, is a means that we are evaluating using.
“This is a good idea, but I won’t comment on its specifics.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, an IDF official declined to comment on the flooding plan, but said: “The IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas’s terror capabilities in various ways, using different military and technological tools.”
However, military analyst Professor Michael Clarke told Sky News that even if the pumps are being built, it does not necessarily mean they will be used.
“Letting a story get out may be a piece of psychological warfare so that it gets any Gazans in the tunnels to get out,” Professor Clark said.
“To flush them out of the tunnels with words rather than with water.”
There are also concerns about the humanitarian and environmental impact flooding the tunnels with seawater could have, given Gaza’s already low safe water supply.
He said: “That would be a piece of environmental vandalism which the world would not thank Israel for.”
Although a verifiable length is not available, Hamas’s tunnel network is believed to be hundreds of miles long and extends across the Gaza Strip.
